Illusions
by Flora-Aurora
Summary: Katniss has just awoken from being filled with illusions from the tracker jacker venom. Why did Peeta tell her to run? What were his motives? Katniss POV One-shot !PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW!


I'm drowsy and disoriented, shocked and scared. I'm half expecting the horrific illusions I experienced from the tracker jacker venom to be real. After all, this is the Hunger Games; anything is possible when it comes to terrifyingly gruesome and shocking situations. They can inflict anything upon us, like the rainfall of fire that fell on me only recently, just to please the Capitol viewers. They manipulate us for their enjoyment, like dolls in a doll house, making us do whatever they please.

I am in a shallow pit filled with dead leaves. Their colouring is calming, flurries of gold, amber and brown; they crunch as I shift myself into sitting position. My head spins for a few seconds and my stomach rushes with a feeling of nausea, which I quickly overcome. Food and water I cannot afford to lose, I've already experienced what it's like to be in a life threatening situation because of hydration and I don't want to go through that again.

I think of Glimmers mutilated body. She was beautiful and I won't deny it with her fair hair and blue eyes, and instant capitol favourite, they always go for beauty. What she looked like after the tracker jackers was an entirely different picture. Her whole body was swollen up, it was disgusting. Her skin was red and blotchy with venom, some parts shiny and bulbous. The huge lumps were exploding everywhere, emitting the green oozy liquid around her body, giving off a gag worthy stench; her hair was thick and matted with the pus. I remember breaking her fingers for my bow and arrow. It wasn't as difficult as it seems, I just wrenched at them and they popped open with a sickening crunch, her fingers turning on inhuman angles. You could not make out her facial features they were so mutilated. Did she really deserve to die in such a horrific way, I can't afford to think like that, I'm here to survive, not pity others, at least that brutal attack will give the capitol something to get excited about for a few hours, I'll be left alone to do some hunting, get my energy up.

Then something hits me, Peeta. This is so confusing. And I am one not used to feeling confusion, after what I have been through I can handle almost anything. But what he did was so surprising. He told me to run when I was in danger from the Careers. He saved my life. If it wasn't for him my cannon would have sounded, my face would have appeared at the end of the day, projected in the sky. But not today, because he saved me.

But why? He joined with the careers, I'm pretty sure he wants to kill me. He is just playing games again. He's good with words, good at tricking people into believing things that aren't true. He asked not to train with me anymore. He doesn't want to work with me rather against me; I am his enemy in this twisted competition, like everyone is.

The boy with the bread, he saved mine and my family's life. It seems a shame to lose someone so considerate. The capitol and the hunger games have maimed him, made him into someone he is not. The intensity and pressure of the games changes people, as it has changed me. A couple of day ago, I would never have dreamed of killing a person, now, I am awaiting it with glee, waiting for a hapless tribute to walk into my territory so I can used my bow and make a kill, putting myself ahead in the games. The capitol owns me now, they decide what I do, and they choose my destiny.

I cannot deny I have a feeling deep down though, that there is something about Peeta I am missing, something he is hiding, something mysterious. Is he really trying to help me, why else would he tell me to run? He could have finished me off right there easily, he would have gained respect in the career pack, by killing me, especially because my scores so high, so why didn't he?

I steadily got to my feet after mulling this over for a good five minutes in my mind, then set off in search of game, for another day in The Hunger Games.


End file.
